Sheila Heti–“Mini Ching” (Harpers, July 2013)

So Beck has a new song out, too (on NPR they’ve been saying this is the year of the cicadas–bands are resurfacing after years of dormancy). I’ve actually heard this a few times on WXPN, but I never realized it was Beck and it has left no impression on me.

It’s tough to say it doesn’t sound like Beck since every album is different, but this song really doesn’t sound like him. The drums are cheesy drum machine drums (like from the early 80s), the keyboards are cheesy keyboards (like from the early 80s), and the song is really really simple (with a strange instrumental break in the middle). And its five minutes long. It just doesn’t make a big splash like Beck usually does.

This is all leading me to say I don’t love it. I usually really like Beck’s gamut of music, but this is a little too bland for me (the last minute or so adds some more details which are more interesting). I suspect if it wasn’t Beck it wouldn’t get played at all. I wonder if this is going to be a whole album of this style of music.

[READ: July 11, 2013] “Mini Ching”

This is an excerpt from “How to Be Good When You’re Lost.” In it, Heti interprets six of the sixty-four hexagrams that comprise the I Ching. I don’t know exactly what the I Ching is. I mean, I know vaguely what it is but not exactly. I assume that there is no real explanation for the hexagrams?

Again, I don’t know how many others have “interpreted” these mystical hexagrams. But Heti creates are wise fortune cookie-sounding advice for each one.

“Gradual Progress” is compared to a tree which moves slowly but builds deeps roots. If you are rooted in virtue your ends will be virtuous.

“Return” is about returning home and reuniting with your life force.

“Revolution” was perhaps the most interesting in that she explains that revolution should never be one force triumphing over another. It is important that it is when peaceful forces are balanced.

The final one “Retreat” was also interesting because it was very clear that retreat should not be considered surrender or a failure. Sometimes it is a regrouping. I also enjoyed the ending of this one: “People need not know what you are doing. Make no one understand. Tell no one what you think of them.”

Overall this was a weird item to have written. I can’t imagine doing a project like this at all. But even more I can’t imagine doing only 6 of the 64–it seems like something you’d want to do in total.